


Loverbird Blues

by Krayolacolor



Series: Marble Roses [9]
Category: Creepypasta - Fandom, Marble Hornets
Genre: (Josie is 17 at the begining of the story, (but not really, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Childhood Trauma, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Manipulative Relationship, Miscarriage, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Parent/Child Incest, Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Physical Abuse, Pregnancy, Rape/Non-con Elements, Smoking, it's hypothetical, so nothing happens), so she is under age)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:40:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29576268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krayolacolor/pseuds/Krayolacolor
Summary: Tim had been badgering the monster for weeks now. Ever since they had returned from the beach he couldn't stop thinking about Josie, as if the monster's obsession had infected him. Always he was met with dismissive responses.Note: This work is only tagged with "rape/noncon" due to the nature of the Offenderman as a character, nothing in this story or the series as a whole will have any graphic depictions of rape.
Relationships: Sexual Offenderman/Original Female Character(s), Timothy "Tim" W. | Masky & Sexual Offenderman
Series: Marble Roses [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2172543
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	Loverbird Blues

Tim had been badgering the monster for weeks now. Ever since they had returned from the beach he couldn't stop thinking about it, as if the monster's obsession had infected him. Always he was met with dismissive responses,

_"Not now, I'm busy,"_

_"Not now, it's just too much to explain,"_

_"Not now, you wouldn't want to hear it now,"_

_"Not now," "Not now," "Not now,"_

When? When was a good time?

It seemed as if Offender might just put the whole thing off forever, which meant Tim had to put his foot down, as usual. Lucky for him they were able to compromise.

It was nice out, the two were sitting on a balcony alone, where Tim wasn't exactly sure, but he was used to that by now. Tim was leaning against the bars of the railing, looking out over the city, it was pretty at least. Offender was not looking at the city, he was sitting with back to it, half sprawled out, smoking a cigarette with his hat pulled low over his face. He always managed to look regal without trying, like his exact posture conveyed his position of power. It was kind of annoying. Tim bummed a cigarette off him and the two were quiet for a while.

"How did you meet her?"

"On accident, I meet most people that way."

"Tell me about it?"

~~~

It was summer, but it wasn't hot out. The town was a little thing, it had one school district, one theater, and neat little houses in neat little rows. It could have been a movie set, it seemed too perfect. Things were going perfectly, small towns were filled with people who trusted each other, it was easier to stand out, but being a tall, handsome, mysterious stranger always intrigued more people than it scared.

He had originally started watching the girl out of boredom. She was young, not too young to get him in trouble, but she was in school, from what he gathered from the conversation she was having with her friend. The two hadn't noticed him yet, he'd been following them around all day, at first because he assumed they were dating and he might catch a show, and then because he'd already been doing it. One of the girls was tall and blonde and wore a flowing flower patterned blouse. She was boring, he'd had that four times that day alone. The other girl was something else, she had short dyed hair, and tight clothes, and a lip piercing. She was louder than her soft spoken friend, and had this confidence about her that Offender decided he liked.

The two girls were sitting at a table at the park on the far side of the town. They were alone, which was perfect for him. He was wondering if he might just take *both* of them when the blonde expressed a need to return home. He decided he'd let her go, he didn't like her as much anyway.

When the girl was all alone, he decided he'd make his presence known. He was sitting at a table near enough for her to see him, but not so close that he might give off the impression he was invading her space. The rose in his hand was a washed out cotton candy pink, and he twirled it in his fingers. It took a very short time for him to catch the girl's interest, he could see her from the corner of his vision watching him, not at all wary of the stranger. He couldn't help but smirk.

"Fancy rose you got there," The girl spoke, having gotten up from her seat, curiously looking closer at it.

"You want it?" He asked, holding it out to her, it simmered as it caught the light.

The girl looked at it for a moment, then looked back at him, "You always give roses to teenagers?" She asked.

Great, this will take longer than he expected, but it wasn't like he had anything else to do except play with his food. He shrugged, "You were the one eyeing me up for a flower, kid." 

The girl blushed and huffed at him, "I'm not a kid."

Offender laughed, "Right, sorry, teenager."

"I have a name," she scoffed.

"And you think I know it?"

She squinted at him, "I'm Josie."

"Short for?" He twirled the rose again to catch her eyes.

"Josephine." She held out her hand, but pulled it back when he tried to offer her the rose again, "Who are you?"

"I'm a lot of people."

Josephine looked at him and crossed her arms, "What kind of answer is that? You got something to hide?"

"Depends on who you're asking."

She studied him for several moments, "If I take your rose will you tell me your name?"

Offender grinned, just on the edge of sickening, "That sounds like a bargain to me."

~~~

Tim scrunched up his face, pulling his knees closer to his chest, "You raped her?"

"Are you that surprised?" Offender glanced over at him.

Tim shifted uncomfortably, "I mean… a little. The way you talk about her…"

"Well I just met her, I didn't know I was going to make her a Proxy until later. What else was I going to do with her?"

Tim took a drag from his cigarette, not looking at Offender anymore, he stared out over the city. Why did he bring him here to tell him this? "You can keep going." He said quietly.

~~~

Not too long after his first encounter with Josephine he found her again. And, to his surprise, she recognized him, though he wasn't sure she remembered anything else about him.

"Hey, Rose Guy-" She called from across the street, startling him almost out of his skin.

Offender whipped around to look at her, he glanced back at the older gentlemen he had been talking to and disappeared to reappear in front of the girl. "What's up, kid?"

"I'm not,"

"Josephine." He corrected himself.

Josephine seemed pleased enough with this, "You aren't really a person, are you?" She asked.

"What gave you that impression?" He asked with a laugh.

"Well, you kinda look like a faceless monster and you teleport. Not only that, but your fancy roses don't die."

"You got me there," he shrugged, "why are you bothering me?"

Josephine blushed, and rocked back on her heels, "I mean, you're a big scary monster who gives out roses to people, that's kinda cool. Why do you do that?"

Offender looked at the girl closely for a while. It was clear she couldn't remember what he did to her, but it was extremely unusual that she retained any sort of memory of him at all. Especially what he looked like. Still, Offender found this interesting. "How about you let me take you to dinner and I'll tell you about it?"

"Are you trying to ask me on a date?" Josephine put her hands on her hips and furrowed her dark eyebrows which gave away the true color of her cotton candy hair.

"That depends," Offender purred and pulled another rose from his coat, this one was purple and washed out and still had that shimmer, "would you say yes if I was?"

The girl looked at the rose for a moment, then reached out and took it, "I guess I will."

Offender took Josephine to a small but well rated restaurant, he sat her down and talked to her over an early lunch and wine. He let her have a few sips from his glass when no one was looking. It started with reintroducing himself to her, as he'd given her his name before but she didn't remember. Then he started talking about his roses.

Josephine looked at the rose she was holding while he spoke. She seemed confused about it. Twirling it in her fingers, "So, it's supposed to be magic?"

"It's not just supposed to be, it is. You are registered in my senses as being 'active' which means you're affected by my magic." Offender explained.

"What does the magic do? I don't really feel any different."

Offender shrugged, "That happens sometimes. To some people, it feels like a drug, and to others it feels like nothing. Depends on how much effort I'm putting in to make them want it."

She narrowed her eyes pointing her fork at him, "Did you just call me 'easy'?"

Pausing for a moment, the monster tilted his head, "I'm guessing the correct answer to this question is no?"

Josephine snorted at his answer, covering we mouth, "It's a good thing you're pretty, because I think you just might be stupid." She laughed.

The laughter caused Offender to blush, he pulled down his hat over his face, sticking out his bottom lip, "Yeah, okay, I get it, you can stop now…" he muttered.

When she calmed down she reached over the table, and put a hand over his, almost startling him at the contact, "Hey I'm just messing with you, don't worry about it."

The rest of their lunch was nice, and when it was over he started to walk her home, they didn't make it all the way there. Of course Offender did put her back in her room when he was done with her.

~~~

Tim crushed the butt of his cigarette against the railing, "Did you rape her every time you saw her?" He asked, pointedly not looking at Offender.

He shrugged, "For a little while, yeah."

"Why?"

"Why do I do anything? I was having fun, she was easy to get a hold of, and I liked talking to her, she thought I was fascinating."

"You're disgusting, you know that?" Tim felt bile in his throat.

"I'm well aware." He said and let the silence hold for a few beats. "You want me to keep going?"

Tim nodded, "I guess."

~~~

For a while Offender gave Josephine roses and took her on dates and romanced her in ways he rarely took the time to do, because, well it was fun. He didn't have anything else going on so spending time with her was often the best part of his day. This little relationship of theirs went on for months, and Josephine didn't tell anyone. The most she'd done was write little love struck poems in her diary, which he read once when she was sleeping. It was then that the idea came to him, the idea that he could keep her.

Offender left her a rose in one of her many favorite colors and a barely legible note that said she should meet him at the park outside of town. Of course she did come to meet him as he asked her to and he sat down with her at one of the many picnic tables.

"So whatcha got planned today?" She asked, wearing a windbreaker jacket and tights under her skirt.

"I actually had something I wanted to ask you," Offender purred, the corner of his lips turning up as Josephine blushed softly, tucking her hair back being her ear.

"Oh, really?"

"We've had this little fling for a while now, Josephine, and I've gotta say, I think I'm really into you. I wanted to know if you'd like to come back to my place, maybe stay a while?"

The girls blush darkened, and the freckles on her cheeks seemed to pop out as she fiddled with her jacket sleeves. "Oh, wow, that's really a question…" she muttered under her breath. "I didn't really think you'd like me like that… You haven't even met my mother."

"Well, there's the whole, 'faceless rose monster' thing, I'm not sure if your mother would like me."

Josephine nodded, "Probably not… but she definitely wouldn't like me staying with an older man…" 

Offender studied her for a moment, "What do *you* want?" He asked, leaning his chin on his palm, looking at her intently.

She bit her lip, "I'd like to say yes…" she said.

So he held out his hand to her, "Then don't let anyone stop you."

Reaching out, Josephine took his hand, letting him pull her closer so that he could kiss her.

~~~

"Before you ask, we had completely consensual sex that night."

Tim glanced over at Offender, "Okay, but how many times did you rape her before that?"

"Well, first, I don't remember, I don't like, count, I didn't put it in my calendar. And I'm sure any estimate I give you will just make you mad, so can we at least appreciate I moved on to getting consent first?"

That didn't really make Tim feel better, but he nodded anyway. "Okay, so what next?"

~~~

This new relationship lasted again several months, where during the week they would hang out a few times and then over the weekend Offender would take Josephine home with him. He liked this arrangement, because the amount of sex he was having doubled in an instant.

One day while he was in bed with her, he looked down at her, "Why don't you run away with me?"

It took Josephine a few moments to process what he said, "Run away with you?" 

"Yeah, run away with me, like, I'll take you home to pack a bag and whisk you away from your normal life to come live with me, we can go on adventures, I'll take you traveling, I'll show you the world, I can give you anything you want." He purred, cupping the side of her face.

She blushed darkly, "You make it sound so romantic," she leaned into his touch. "I have to finish school."

"I can teach you."

"My mother will be lost without me,"

"But what do *you* want?" He asked, he could hear her heart beating in her chest against her ribs.

Slowly she reached up and put her hands on his jaw softly, "I want to say yes…" she pulled him down into a kiss.

It felt like fire, his burning need to claim her as his, to keep her all to himself. He got his wish soon after, he took her home and she packed herself a bag. She sat down at her desk and wrote her mother a letter, telling her that she was in love and she was leaving and not to worry, because she still loved her so much. Offender draped himself over her shoulders and watched her neat writing fill the page which she folded and left on the kitchen table for her mother. The monster scooped her up, right off her feet, kissing her hard, and she smiled into it.

~~~

Tim was staring up at the sky, he wasn't sure what time it was, "So you kidnapped her?"

"No, I've kidnapped people before, usually it involves more screaming. Josephine wanted to come with me. I didn't kidnap her any more than I kidnapped you to this balcony." Offender said, he moved and stretched twisting at the hips and folding himself in half to stretch out his back. "That being said, I was expecting her to fight with me about it longer, so in theory, I very well could have kidnapped her. It was pure luck that I didn't need to."

"You could have just stopped, you were ahead and then you made it worse." Tim sighed.

Offender started off into the wall for several moments, "Well, you wanted the truth I'm telling you everything."

"Well," Tim shifted to stretch too trying to get comfortable, "I guess that's fair enough…"

~~~

It was less than a day later that Offender marked her, at first Josephine was confused, staring at the crossed out heart on her forearm, so Offender explained.

"My species sometimes become attached to humans," he started, holding the girl in his lap as they sat on the floor by the fireplace. "When that happens we 'mark' or 'claim' them. The visual is sort of like a stamp that tells others you belong to me, so they can't hurt you or take you from me… But a mark is deeper than that." He held her arm in his hand and traced the heart with his thumb, "It's a bond made to be unbreakable, our very souls are intertwined in ways that humans can barely comprehend." He put his other hand on her chest and held her back against his own. "Breathe with me, feel our hearts beating together. This is what you were made for, you were made for me. I am a part of you, you are a part of me, we are one together." 

The two spent the first few weeks of the "honeymoon" phase just enjoying being together constantly. Offender watched Josephine become entranced with the domestic life. They slept in the same bed, cooked together, took long showers together, Offender took her to new places, he spent money on her, got her gifts, and she was in love with all of it. She didn't even realize what he was doing right under her nose, and it was kind of perfect that way…

Offender never realized how much differently people he knew might treat him if they didn't know what it was he got up to with all those roses. And Josephine thought he was amazing and handsome and loving and enjoyed his doting and his singing and when he'd play the violin for her. She thought this life was just so magical, he wanted to keep it like that.

"Where do you get all your roses?" Josephine asked him one day as they were laying in the grass staring up at the stars.

"They grow inside me."

Josephine looked over at him with confusion.

"Oh, I can show you, just don't touch them, okay?" Offender sat up and rolled up his sleeve. Josephine sat up to look closer as Offender used a claw to cut open his arm from his wrist to his inner elbow, he clenched his hand hard, breathing deeply to push down the pain as the girl watched him. Her eyes widened as the vines reached out and roses budded and bloomed from the wound in his skin. He used a few tendrils to lift the flowers so he could cut them off and then he licked his arm to close the cut and keep more from growing. He held the bundle and the colors shifted a few times before they all glimmered a pretty pale blue.

"That… looked like it hurt." She said quietly.

"It does." The monster said as he put the flowers in his coat.

For a few moments it was quiet, "Why are they inside you?"

Offender hesitated, "I did something bad, a very long time ago, and my punishment was the roses."

"That's not fair, what could you have done that was so bad?"

He sighed, "I guess now is as good as ever for me to tell you." 

So Offender told her about his childhood, about his brother and his love of humans. He explained the hatred he endured, and being forced to hurt his siblings or be punished. He talked about his obsessions with humans, and how badly he wanted to be like them, how broken he felt for experiencing emotions that others just didn't seem to have. He felt her pity him, felt her anger because he was hurt when he was vulnerable, he felt her desire to give him everything she had if it might help him feel better.

The girl scrunched up her face, holding his hand that cradled her face like he might take it away, "It's not your fault they did that to you."

"Josephine, I hurt people." Offender said, "I don't just hurt people, I enjoy it."

She held onto him tighter, "You wouldn't do that if they didn't hurt you first."

"Is suffering I give justified by the suffering I have endured?"

"No, but, it's not *your* fault, what happened to you was horrific… you just, you need someone to care about you…"

"Josephine, I don't think that,"

"Don't argue with me," Josephine hissed. "Let me help you."

"You can't save me, darling." He murmured, pulling her closer to him.

"Will you let me try?" She looked up at him with big eyes, her fluttering lashes were wet.

Offender leaned her back into the grass, hovering over her, "I can let you try."

~~~

In the present it was getting darker, Tim had been watching the sky, as the blue faded into orange and red and pink and purple, it was beautiful. "Did you ever tell her that you raped her?"

Offender nodded, "Yeah, eventually, but I didn't then."

"Why not?"

"I didn't want her to think that I would hurt her."

Tim sighed, "So you just gave her your sob story?"

The monster huffed, "It's not my sob story, it just… I don't know, my life sounds like that I guess? Whatever, let me just, skip over some shit okay? It's getting late."

Tim shrugged, "Sure."

~~~

Josephine acted as Offender's Proxy for years. Many things stayed the same between them, they shared a bed most nights, they cooked together, Offender washed her hair in the shower, they travelled. Offender tutored her in their free time, he was mindful of the things that she had firmly put her foot down about, and in turn she helped him.

Every week or sometimes less, they sat down and talked about anything that bothered him. To be honest, Josephine was right about it helping him work through his issues, but he never told her that.

Over the years a lot of things happened, the two went on countless dates, Josephine became pregnant and lost several children, and the woman remained loving and gentle despite everything that had happened to her. She was so trustworthy that for a short period of time other Slenders would let Offender around, just by virtue of knowing she too would be there. It was the golden period between them, things were perfect.

"Offender, I'm pregnant."

Offender, who had been drinking coffee and kinda pretending he wasn't looking at a porn magazine by holding it in a newspaper, choked and spit his coffee onto his lap.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't think you were going to start dying." Josephine giggled. She was still young and beautiful. Her hair was still short, but she had long since lost interest in dying it, rather letting the natural color take over. She was wearing something casual, those shorts he liked, those boots she liked, a hoodie which laced in the front. She was just as gorgeous now as she had been almost twenty years ago.

The monster wiped his face with the back of his hand, "Sorry, but you always just spring these things on me at the worst time."

The woman put a hand on her hip, looking him up and down as he was sat on the couch with his coat undone and a coffee soaked magazine in his hand. "I see you were very busy. My apologies to your Playboy."

Offender snorted and tossed the paper to the side, "Okay, you got me there. When'd you find out?"

"This morning, Marie took me to the doctor's for tests."

"I could have taken you, why didn't you tell me?" He was a little offended actually.

Josephine raised her eyebrows, "You hate hospitals. And you drink rubbing alcohol every time you enter one."

Offender screwed up his face, "Okay fine, how far along is it?"

"The estimate was three months, but I've no idea when exactly it happened." She walked over to the couch and sat down beside him.

Of course Offender took this as an opportunity to start guessing, "Ummm, the orgy in November?"

"I'd be very surprised if that was it, because I wasn't there." She snorted.

"The one dude from Toronto?"

"Nope, condom."

"Fuck, uh, I can't remember shit from three months ago." Offender muttered.

Josephine leaned her head against his arm, "I don't think it matters too much who's it is… I don't even know how long this one will last."

Offender paused, his hand twitched, he knew very well that his Proxy had actively tried, despite his own wishes, to have a child. She had for years now. It was one of those things that she *wanted* and nothing could stop her, except of course, the fact that she had trouble carrying to term, or close enough to term. He suspected that may be his fault, the radiation would likely affect anything trying to be home in her body. Still, even though he was wary of the idea, it was never a good idea for him to be around children for a long time, he reached over and put a hand on her hand. "Maybe this one will be the one?"

"I won't get my hopes too high just yet," she took his hand and put it on her stomach, "Can you feel their heartbeat?" She asked, barely whispering the idea.

After a moment of focus, he nodded, "They are certainly alive right now."

She gripped his hand tighter, "Offender… I know you don't like the idea of kids, but I know you struggle, but I know you're trying. So promise me something, okay?"

Apprehension flooded his body in an instant, this was a 'too serious' moment, this was not a joke or something he could laugh off. "Sure," he said.

"I want you to be their father. I want you to help me raise them. You have to promise me you'll try."

"I," Offender didn't like this, he didn't one bit, being around Splenda for periods because Josephine had begone teaching the kids was hard enough for him, let alone having a baby in his house *all the time* which needed attention constantly and cried and shit and Josephine would need a maternity leave, fucking hell, "I'll try."

Josephine smiled and leaned up to kiss his cheek, "I love you," she said as she got up from the couch.

He didn't say it back. He never did.

~~~

Tim watched as the lights blinked on in the city, "So, that's Rosa?" He asked.

"Yeah, that's Rosa."

"Why did you let Josie keep her if you were so worried about fucking up?" Tim glanced back over at him for the first time in a while.

Offender had pulled his knees up and had his head resting back against the bars of the railing, "Josephine wanted her. I'm sure she did know who the father was, she was much more careful than she let on. She never said because she wanted me to be her father. She really had that much faith in me… I have genuinely tried not to misplace her faith." 

Tim squinted out at the city line, the lights were bright, and the world was muffled, like it was a backdrop made for them to talk over. "You really never touched her?"

"It's crossed my mind once or twice or a million times. But no, I never did it. And it's hard, because she looks so much like her mother… I promised her that I'd try, and I promised Rosa that too. It's why I gave her to a human family to raise, because I knew, I *knew*, I couldn't do that. That was me trying to do what was best for her, because that's what Josephine asked me to do."

"I guess she was lucky then…" 

"Tim,"

"Don't. I don't want to hear that from you. Just, Rosa is born, then what?"

Offender sighed, rubbing his temples, but he didn't say what he was planning on saying.

~~~

On June the 29th Rosa was born two weeks early. She was little and pudgy and wailed and cried until she was held in Josephine's arms. Offender vividly recalled having the infant placed very gently in his hands as Josephine showed him how to hold her. She was so small and fragile and helpless. For a split second, he remembered the first time he ever held his youngest brother.

"What did you settle on for the name?" He asked.

Josephine smiled, she was tired and sweaty and aching, but she seemed to be filled with joy as she reached over and put her hand over his, "Her name is Rosa." 

"Rosa," He repeated and the infant grabbed into his hand with her tiny chubby fingers with all her minimal newborn strength, "that's beautiful.."

Once again, things settled into perfect. There was now a beautiful nursery in Offender's home which he painstakingly spent months painting with pastel roses, he filled a small book shelf with children's stories, and Josephine insisted on having a copy of "Beauty and the Beast" because it was her favorite growing up. Offender gave Josephine time to recover from her birth and spend time with the baby, which meant he had to return to doing most of his own hunting. That wasn't a problem, he had started doing most of his hunting when Josephine's pregnancy started to become noticeable so he was just picking it up full time. He had to entertain himself more often because Josephine was healing and exhausted with the baby, but he could do that too. 

It really was perfect, this was the family that the monster had desired from childhood. It was a pain to have to go hunt constantly to keep himself in check, but that didn't make it any less perfect.

So it was perfect, until Offender made a mistake...

"What do you mean a *kid picked it up!*" Josephine had him by the tie so he was looking her in the eye.

Offender had his hands up in defense, it had been a year since Rosa was born, "I mean, a fucking *kid picked it up*- please Josephine, I didn't do anything to him, I can't breathe-" he wheezed.

The woman let him go and he coughed and choked for a minute, while she ripped into him about 'not being careful enough' and how he 'should pay more attention' and that 'this was a huge mess'.

"I'm not going to fuck the kid," Offender hissed.

"Of course you aren't, but what *are* you going to do with them?"

~~~

"This argument was about me, right?" Tim interrupted.

"Yes, this is what happened immediately after you became Active as a six year old."

"So you just went and panicked at Josie about it?"

Offender scoffed, "No, I panicked outside your house for an hour, then I went to tell Josephine that I was going to make you a Proxy."

Tim snorted, "I'm sure that thrilled her."

"Well," He made a so-so motion, "she didn't like it, but I took her to watch you once,"

"What?" For a moment Tim racked his brain looking for any memory he might have of ever seeing Josie while she was alive, but he came up empty. "I don't remember her."

"I never let her meet you, so you wouldn't remember her, but she thought you were adorable."

"Oh."

~~~

Offender began to spend time with Tim, getting the young boy used to his presence, and slowly befriending him. At home he helped with Rosa and spent time with Josephine as life returned to normal between them. It really was something, this life he had carved out for himself. He had Josephine who snuggled against him in bed, and a daughter who squealed with delight when she saw him, and a young boy who was awed by his little tricks and his musical talent. He was almost afraid to use the word perfect this time should something upset the image.

Everything was well, until of course, it wasn't. 

He was irritated, he had been fighting with Josephine over something and left the house to blow off steam or else risk hurting either of the other two occupants. After being gone for a few hours he returned hoping to smooth things over, only to be more pissed off that Josephine had left with Rosa without telling him. Offender really was trying not to be angry, he didn't know why he was so irrationally angry about this. He felt like his authority was being challenged, like something had thrown off the balance of their perfect life and things began snowballing down hill.

When Josephine came back, it had been two days and she left Rosa with a friend so they could talk without worrying about her.

"I don't understand what your problem is," he hissed, clenching and unclenching his hands to try and control himself.

"My problem? My problem?! Oh my god, I know you aren't this fucking stupid!"

It had barely been a few minutes when their screaming match started.

"This was never a problem before!"

"Well it's a problem now!" 

He wasn't sure when she started crying like that.

"Why are you acting like this? It's not even a big deal!"

"I've been with you for twenty-seven years of my fucking life and you still can't comprehend that I fucking care about you?!" 

"Shut up!" Offender snarled, baring his teeth at her, "Just shut the fuck up!"

"Don't you flash your teeth at me, you think I'm scared of you! Offender please, I love you, I only want to help," She reached out to him gently, but the second she touched him he hit her.

Offender had never hit her before, not when he was angry, not when she was trying to calm him down. He'd never back handed her across the face and shoved her onto the floor. He'd never done that before. Not to Josephine. "I said shut the fuck up-" he spit, "I don't fucking care- okay- you still fucking think I love you? Are you still so fucking delusional?" 

Everything buzzed, everything was so loud, he felt like he was seeing red and blacking out and dunking his head in ice water all at once.

"Offender stop, please," She was crying, she was crying so hard she could hardly breathe.

"Oh no," Offender dropped onto one knee and pulled up her face with a harsh grip under her chin, forcing her to look at him, "I'm not stopping now…"

It was never his intention to hurt her. Josephine was special to him. He only meant to scare her, give a little wake up call, prove to himself he didn't *love* her, he *couldn't* love her. He couldn't love her because he was a monster, he couldn't let her forget he was a monster.

He never felt like more of a monster than in that moment.

She didn't stop crying.

She didn't stop crying until she stopped breathing.

He remembered the blood everywhere.

Her blood was everywhere.

"Josephine..?"

He never felt so cold.

"Josephine?!"

He could remember the first time he killed one of his brothers. How hard he cried and begged them to, "Wake up- please please, Wake up, no no nononono, I'm sorry- I'm sorry, Wake up! Josephine!"

She was always so beautiful. She always looked beautiful in red. It stained her ebony black hair, and the skin on her hips, and floor between her thighs. This was not the red he loved on her. 

Carefully he touched her face, smearing red over her freckles, he felt ill, "I didn't mean it, my darling, please, please, I didn't mean it…" he rested his forehead against hers, shaking all over. He couldn't take it back.

~~~

Silence hung heavy in the air. It was dark now, the glittering lights on the city looked like stars from where they were. Tim did not look at Offender. He was scared, he thought about all the times that Offender had professed to caring about him, to wanting to protect him, provide for him. He thought about how easily he could take every word back, how easily he could rip into him.

A little hiccup escaped him and he covered his mouth, burying his face in his hands. He hated this, he hated feeling so helpless and alone, being tied to a monster with the string around his neck. Tim knew in that moment that when his life ended, it would be at Offender's hands, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Gently Offender reached over and carefully pulled him into his lap, Tim didn't fight him. He let Offender hold him while he sobbed like a child against his chest. Offender had been many things to him, his friend, his dealer, his abuser, his tormentor, his benefactor, and one day, he would be his killer…

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know if I need to tag anything else.


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